Sales coaching for performance improvement

There’s a well-worn story about a guy who meets a guru at a beach early in the morning to learn about changing his life.

A story which has been presented to audiences ranging from budding athletes to junior sales executives the world over has its origins with Eric Thomas, the Hip Hop Preacher offering the question “How bad do you want it?”

That ‘it’ can be anything from varsity sports to high performance sales but it’s the “how bad” part that is more relevant..

Thomas has become a popular speaker in sport and business with a simple core message that the individual must take responsibility for their life.

He presents a view that rejects excuses, victim mindset and passive waiting and emphasises discipline over motivation, habits over feelings and identity over circumstances.

His most popular video is worth watching when you get a chance.

Getting better at anything might start with words but need to move quickly into disciplined actions that are focused on the precise aspects of performance.

Saying “I want to be better at field sales” is admirable but vague whereas the attention needs to be focused on more narrow, specific elements of performance.

“How bad to you want it” becomes “how bad to you want what exactly?”

“I want to be better at field sales” could very well become “I want to get better at active listening in face to face meetings because I am conscious that I talk over people and constantly interrupt.”

That’s an altogether different instruction to the brain – and coach –and the more specific the coachee can be, the quicker the practice can become purposeful and deliberate.
With a number of clients I have recently introduced training programmes supplemented by 1-2-1 coaching sessions with the coachee. This helps keep the focus on what is important, committing the coachee to a process and introducing a layer of accountability that might not exist after a one-off training session.

For some people coaching is an affront to their very being as they feel challenged on 3 levels – their competency (I already know how to do this), their status (I don’t need any help) and their self-image (By changing this, it means I’ve been doing it wrong all along.)

Suspending the ego can be hard and can make the coaching process psychologically demanding – if you really want to improve your ability in sales you have to prioritise truth over self-protection and look at the facts over feelings. It becomes less about those wee ego-driven victories and more about progress.

Even with the ego on hold, the coachee then has to find a way to translate any feedback into behavioural change without taking anything personally.

The 4 stages are:
– receive instruction
– reflect without defensiveness
– experiment with the change
– integrate into future behaviour

If you really want to get better at active listening and stop interrupting prospects, you need to first of all know what that looks like – and sounds like.

Video recordings, telephone call recordings or asking for honest feedback after meetings can be very wounding but incredibly necessary.

There may be multiple issues to contend with, all of which need practicing and further reflection before any kind of integration and that takes time and further suspension of the ego.

This type of practice is called “deliberate’ ‘deep’ or ‘purposeful’ for a reason and is very different from a ‘repetitive‘ practice methodology which is usually all about the ‘number of times’ done or the  ‘time spent’ doing.

Paraphrasing Eric Thomas again, ‘how bad do you want it?”

In many respects coaching for performance improvement encourages challenge from the coachee – typically through asking questions, requesting observation and inviting criticism and not waiting for correction.

It becomes a co-creating experience as painful and joyful for both participants who are equally tuned in to an agreed destination.

Without alignment, consent and a process to assist delivery, coaching is doomed to fail.

There is no doubt that people will proclaim they are coachable because it’s what they want their bosses or line managers to hear but what happens when they aren’t coachable?

Ultimately the only evidence for coachability is a change in behaviour that comes through the application of the feedback, the deliberate practice in between sessions, self-analysis and critique and the acceptance that pain is part of the process.

For some it might be a question of being careful what you wish for – changing behaviour most likely will lead to regression albeit temporary.

The resulting dip in performance is just part of the necessary re-wiring and not proof of failure.

A strong ego in a sales person may well fight the change, where as a coachable mindset will accept the changes providing they are supported by an effective process and good people.

Any sales process can be broken down into smaller repeatable steps and put under scrutiny. Being the person that wants to submit themselves to that process takes a bit of courage but the rewards are evident.

Thanks for reading.
Photo by Maxim Tolchinskiy on Unsplash